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OVERVIEW

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Brief Synopsis

At the Santa Maria Kennel Club Dog Show, elderly Guy Lanyard is accompanied by his nurse, Patsy Doyle, and his grandchildren, Gerald and Lois. Lois is engaged to Alec Temple, the secretary of the club. An exhibit at the show features Oliver Quade, the "human encyclopedia," who demonstrates his amazing photographic memory with the help of his companion, Small Fry, to promote sales of his Little Wizard encyclopedia. The police are called to the show when Lanyard's dog, Prince Laskar, is killed by a lethal injection and Albert Deacon, a judge at the show, is shot and whispers the name "Harold Blue Tooth" before dying. After police interrogate those present, Quade and Small Fry return to their room, where they are visited by Patsy, who comes to thank Quade for not reporting the syringe in her purse. While Patsy and Quade talk, Small Fry, an aspiring detective, leaves to investigate Deacon's room. When Angus McTavish, an employee recently fired by Lanyard, is found dead, Small Fry pieces the clues together and realizes that Harold Blue Tooth was a dog named for a great Danish king. When Small Fry witnesses the murder of Ma Sloane, a dog food saleswoman, he calls Quade for help, but before they can act, the two are imprisoned in a cellar by unseen hands. Breaking out using Quade's knowledge of Greek fire, the two visit the Lanyard house in hopes of exposing the killer. There, they ignite a firecracker, and the sound frightens Temple into pulling a gun, thus exposing himself as the murderer. Temple confesses that he killed to cover up the fact that he had stolen the dog that he's sold to Lanyard, and had changed his name from Harold Blue Tooth to Prince Laskar. Temple is then overpowered and brought to justice. With the crimes solved, Patsy decides to join Quade and Small Fry as they move to the domesticity of a trailer home.